


Scrambled Eggs (Burnt Perfectly So)

by TimmyJaybird



Series: 100 Themes Challenge [28]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: M/M, RedFam, subtle emotional hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 02:29:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10295492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimmyJaybird/pseuds/TimmyJaybird
Summary: Nightmares are just a part of Jason's life- but he's realizing he's now at that point where he doesn't have suffer them alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The theme was "endings"!

Jason gritted his teeth, pulling against the bindings on his arms. His shoulders burned with the movement as he leaned into the heat of the fire, inhaling and choking on smoke. It felt like barbed wire was searing into his arms, biting pat flesh and leaving blood to trickle down, pool along his wrists, into his palms. Rooted in place, he could only watch with wide eyes as the world around him burned.

 

The flames were high, licking his cheeks, his bare skin. Naked from the waist up, he could feel his skin reacting, burning slowly, turning an angry red that would welt shortly. He glanced down at his chest, saw sketchy lines cut into his skin, blood having well up already- forming a bat on his chest, the same kind he sported every damn night.

 

He tugged again, coughing after he sucked in a breath and choked on the smoke. It was so thick his eyes stung from it, felt so familiar it had his skin crawling. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out, just a wheeze and then silence, until a  _ laugh _ began to bubble up, to fill the burning building. It ricocheted off the walls, felt like it was coming from every damn corner of his consciousness.

 

Jason tried to breathe again, opened his mouth, and realized the sickening laugh was coming from  _ him _ .

 

Jason jolted up in bed, mouth opening in a sick sort of whine. He stared with wide eyes across the empty bedroom, daylight streaming in through the parted bedroom curtains. Across from him the mirror hanging over the vanity- and never let Roy hear him call it a  _ vanity _ \- showed him his own reflection. Pale looking, sweat forcing his hair to stick to his forehead, eyes huge and wild.

 

He reached up, rubbed a hand up over his face, hiding in the darkness it provided. He was trying to get his breathing in order when there was a knock at the door- quick, from a small fist.

 

“Jayjay!” Lian’s voice rang through the wood. “Jayjay daddy said it’s time to get up!” Jason swallowed thickly, wanted to tell her to go away- not because he didn’t want to see her, but because he didn’t want  _ her _ to see him. Not post nightmare, not waking from twisted forms of  _ those _ memories.

 

But the door was open and Lian was in the room, running for the bed and hopping. She hoisted herself up with shockingly strong arms, crawling right over his legs to sit on one heavy thigh. Jason didn’t moved his hand, felt her little hands fisting in his tshirt, tugging.

 

“Jayjay?” He inhaled, slowly, let his hand fall away, glanced down. Lian was already put together, dressed, hair in a cute little braid. He wondered what time it was. “You look sick.” She reached up, pressed a little hand to his cheek. “ _ You’re white _ !”

 

He might have  _ laughed _ over that, if he didn’t feel sick to his stomach. He reached out, he swore he meant to move Lian, but his arms ended up around her, pulling her to his chest. Lian giggled, settling right in, smiling at being so easily enveloped.

 

Jason held her tight, pressed his cheek down into her soft hair. She smelled like strawberry shampoo, clean and warm and so  _ real _ and there, and he needed that, in that moment. Needed something to pull him back to reality fully, remind him dreams were just that- dreams.

 

“Did you have a bad dream?” she asked, kicking her little socked feet. Her socks didn’t match- and Jason figured it wasn’t a choice, Roy simply couldn’t  _ find _ a matching set because she was constantly losing socks.

 

“Yeah,” Jason said, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat, lifted his head, and Lian looked up at him, big dark eyes she’d inherited from Jade looking like they always saw too much.

 

“What happened? You and daddy always tell me to talk about my bad dreams.” She fidgeted her little feet together, completely unable to sit still, and Jason sighed, tipping his head back and letting her squirm around happily. Her hands clutched at his big arms, always happy to look at all the scars he boasted like she was seeing them for the first time.

 

“Just a lot of fire,” he admitted, figuring he couldn’t exactly tell a six year old about a twisted recreation of his  _ death _ . “I was laughing.”

 

“Why would you laugh?”

 

Jason swallowed again. His throat was dry. “A very bad man did something very bad to me, and he laughed.” Jason bit his tongue then, thinking he may have crossed a line- but when he glanced down, looked at Lian in the mirror, her face was set in a very serious pout.

 

“No one hurts Jayjay,” she said, very softly. “No one  _ laughs _ at Jayjay.” Her brow furrowed. “When I’m big like you an’ daddy I’m gonna laugh at  _ him _ !”

 

Jason could only smile over that. He bent down, kissed the top of her head. “Yeah? Hopefully he’ll be long gone by then, princess.” Another kiss, and silently, Jason prayed Lian would never meet the Joker. He knew one day she’d be just like  _ Roy _ , laughing and giving him heart attacks on a nightly basis. There was no way to keep her from their life, it had been blatantly obvious already.

 

But  _ god _ , not the Joker. Not him…

 

“Daddy wanted me to get you up,” Lian said, suddenly changing the subject in a way only a child could. “He said ‘ta come downstairs.” Jason unwound his arms and she slid off his lap, squirming until she was off the bed. She ran for the doorway, pausing when she reached it, grabbing onto it and leaning back. “He’ll give you a hug if you’re sad.”

 

She was off, after that- and Jason knew she was definitely  _ right _ . It was still hard to imagine that there was someone willing to calm him, after the nightmares. He’d spent so damn long dealing with them alone that even now, living with Roy, raising his  _ daughter _ with him-  _ their  _ daughter, Jason knew, if he was being honest- it was hard to believe there could be someone there, willing to help.

 

He tossed the blanket aside, got up and stretched. He headed for the hallway, down the stairs in his barefeet, heard the sound of the television. A peek into the living room, and Lian was sitting on the couch watching intently, the coffee table a mess of her coloring books and crayons. Shaking his head but smiling, Jason left her be, heading for the kitchen.

 

And, shockingly, finding Roy turning the stove off. He paused in the doorway, took in his boyfriend’s back, the curve of his neck visible with his hair pulled up, the freckles that dotted every bit of skin not covered in ink. Roy Harper was stunning, and no matter what Jason said, how Jason joked, he’d always lose his breath around him.

 

“There’s sleeping beauty,” Roy said, turning, holding a pan by the handle. “Your breakfast is gonna get cold, sugar.” He headed for the counter, scraping the scrambled eggs onto a waiting plate, and Jason slowly felt the tension leaving his body.

 

“You made breakfast,” he mused, “what’d you do, Harper?”

 

Roy laughed, setting the pan down and grabbing the plate, a fork balanced on the side. He turned, took a few steps towards Jason, passed it into his waiting hands. “Can’t a guy make his boyfriend breakfast?” he asked, and his smile was going to end Jason, he was so sure. Jason glanced down at the foot, before deciding he was much more interested in Roy himself. He reached out, hooked his fingers in the belt loops of his worn out jeans, holding the plate aside so Roy could meld right up against his chest.

 

“He can,” Jason whispered, “but the kitchen is  _ my _ domain normally.” He eyed Roy’s mouth, the curve to those cherry pink lips, and Roy chuckled.

 

“You look like you wanna kiss me, Jaybird.”

 

“Maybe I do.” Roy chuckled again, shaking his head, before he closed the gap himself, pressed a soft but warm kiss to Jason’s mouth. Jason smiled into it, content to keep it light and affectionate, a teasing little play back and forth…

 

“Daddy, can we-” Lian’s voice broke off in the doorway, before she made a little noise. “ _ Gross _ kissing is for trees, not kitchens!” Jason leaned back, caught the quirk of Roy’s brow.

 

“Trees?” he asked, and Lian nodded.

 

“Yeah! Like the song. You sit in a tree.” She folded her arms. “ _ Not _ in the kitchen.” Jason cracked a smile over that, and the moment he did Lian’s pour disappeared. “But if it makes Jayjay feel better, it’s okay.” She turned at that, seeming to have forgotten whatever she initially wanted, and headed back towards the sounds of the television.

 

“And was Jayjay feeling bad?” Roy asked, concerned sounding now. Jason shrugged a shoulder, took a step back and pulled his plate in, towards his chest. He picked up his fork, skewering a few pieces of egg.

 

“Just a nightmare,” he said, popping the fork into his mouth. Roy always burnt the bottom of the eggs slightly, and it had taken Jason a few weeks to realize it was only partially on accident, and mostly because that was how Roy liked them. Jason had grown fond of them that way himself, now. “Nothing major,” he said, after swallowing.

 

Roy frowned. He obviously didn’t believe Jason, but he didn’t push. And Jason didn’t need him to- because Lian had taken the initial sting away, and already his silent screams were mostly forgotten. Waking up to breakfast and Roy’s pretty smile did that, distracted him with the  _ good _ his life had now.

 

“If you say so.” He leaned back in, kissed Jason’s cheek. “Go keep pumpkin company? Maybe she’ll listen to you and turn the TV down. Swear she’s going to ruin her ears.” Jason chuckled at that, heading for the living room and stuffing another forkful of eggs into his mouth.  _ His _ spot on the couch was open of course, as if Lian had been waiting for him to join her.

 

And the fact that he had people waiting for him now, in the morning, in  _ life _ \- it made the difference. Felt the perfect ending to all of the silent fear and long, sleepless nights, and the beginning to some real healing.


End file.
